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This is my first completely scratch built "model." I carved it from extruded foam and painted it to look like rock with Vallejo acrylic paints. I plan to also build a partial environment around it and do a miniature VFX shot with it. Always wanted to do a miniature shot, but haven't had the chance. Should be fun.

Anyone have recommendations on how to scratch build a roman column, such as the one seen in the original episode? The fillets seem like they would be difficult to re-create. Any suggestions would be welcome.

...Anyone have recommendations on how to scratch build a roman column, such as the one seen in the original episode? The fillets seem like they would be difficult to re-create. Any suggestions would be welcome.

The best way I can think of, besides milling the fillets, is to glue thin strips to a rod or tube. Then spray several coats of filler primer, it will build up along the strips creating the fillets.

Anyone have recommendations on how to scratch build a roman column, such as the one seen in the original episode? The fillets seem like they would be difficult to re-create. Any suggestions would be welcome.

Check cake decorating supply businesses. Several companies make columns for cake decorating like Wilton which can be found at Hobby Lobby or Michales.

Yeah, I already tried that. If I had built the Guardian at half the scale it is, that would have worked. However, the cake columns are 7" and the Guardian is 12" tall. In the episode, the columns are just slightly taller than the Guardian, so they are too short.

Anyone have recommendations on how to scratch build a roman column, such as the one seen in the original episode? The fillets seem like they would be difficult to re-create. Any suggestions would be welcome.

Hey mate, I used PVC pipe and corrugated cardboard and foam to make mine pics attached.

Well, I figured out how to make the stubby broken column in front of the Guardian itself anyway.

I started with an empty toilet paper roll, corrugated craft paper, plastic wrap, cooking spray, and Plaster of Paris.

I then cut the corrugated paper to length that it would fit inside the mold rolled up.

This simple combination would become the base of my mold. To make sure the liquid plaster wouldn't pour out the bottom, I taped plastic wrap to the bottom.

Now I needed to spray the inside of the mold with cooking spray to serve as a mold release agent otherwise the plaster would bond with the corrugated craft paper.

Next I mixed up the plaster of paris and poured it into the mold.

Then I just waited 2 hours and peeled the paper mold off of it. It's got a few nicks and dings, but since the column is supposed to be millennia old, that works just fine. Now I just have to build the base of the column.

Alright, it took me a couple of weeks of on and off trial and error to get this column figured out. But I got it. My wife is a genius and very creative. So she accompanied me to Hobby Lobby, where we found these coin collection plastic containers that were the perfect size for the column base if two of them were stacked. In another isle, she found some wooden rings that worked perfectly. Finally, to add a bit more visual interest, she suggested I use the lid to her Starbucks Coffee bottle.

At this point, I glued the two plastic coin containers together, and sculpted Milliput around them to create an eroded base shape. Then I simply stacked the square base, wooden ring, coffee lid, and previously cast plaster column and glued them together.

Next I simply painted the whole assembly white with Stynylrez White Primer.

While this looked pretty good, there was a weird dependency between the perfectly machined wooden ring and bottle cap, while the square base and column look eroded. To that end, I mixed a bit of Perfect Plastic Putty and water to create a thick paint of sorts. I then completely painted the bottle cap and wooden ring quite heavily with this mixture. This forms a hard crust of putty around them, and since I didn't airbrush the mixture, it's a bit lumpy which gives the pieces irregular shapes much like erosion effects. It will also create a thin crust I can chip into and break off pieces to give it the illusion of stone. I'll have more updates soon of the final column all painted and weathered.